Saturday, March 15, 2014

Last month
[Feb 2014] I had posted about Lady Willingdon School and the plea for naming it
after Singara Velar. …… that was on TOI article on Madras High Court giving
time for the State Govt to decide on naming the Lady Willingdon College campus
after freedom fighter M V Singaravelar.

The court had
expressed sadness at the neglect of memorials and samadhis of Singaravelar’s
forefathers on the college campus and passing orders on a batch of five PILs on
Friday, the first bench of Chief Justice R K Agrawal and Justice M
Sathyanarayanan asked the state to take steps to renovate the memorials and
samadhis within six months.

A school at
that placed had been started by Lord
Willingdon who divested the owner of the property the educational institution
as we know it today was named as Lady Willingdon.

The State Govt submitted that as per a Nov 2011
decision, a memorial-cum-library was being built in honour of Singaravelar at
Tondiarpet. Renaming the college campus after Singaravelar is a policy matter,
and as of now there is no such proposal, the government advocate informed the
court. The history as per
‘http://www.ladywillingdoniase.com’ puts it that during the later part of 19th
century, there was a Hindu School for Girls at Ice House,the first of its kind
in Chennai, which was managed by the Vijayarangam Trust. It was then taken over
by the Government of Madras Presidency. This Hindu School was upgraded into a
Training Institution, was renamed as 'Lady Willingdon Training School' after
the name of the wife of the then Governor of Madras Presidency in 1922.

Web search
would reveal that : Major Freeman
Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon PC GCSI GCMG GCIE GBE, was a British
Liberal politician and administrator served as Governor General of Canada, as
Viceroy and Governor-General of India.
From 1913 on, Willingdon held gubernatorial and viceregal offices
throughout the British Empire, starting with the governorship of Bombay and
then the governorship of Madras, before he was in 1926 appointed as Canadian
governor general by the King. In 1931,
Willingdon was appointed as Governor General and Viceroy of India by the
King, on the advice of British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, to replace Lord Irwin, and he served in the post until
succeeded by the Marquess of Linlithgow in 1936.

Malayapuram Singaravelu
Chettiar (1860-1946) was a pioneer trade unionist credited with celebrating May
Day in 1923. The British Government arrested him along with
other leaders on charges of conspiring to wage war against the Crown, but he was reportedly set free, soon after,
on account of his failing health.

The old Collectorate
Building in the present campus at Rajaji Salai, Chennai-1 was constructed in
the year 1793. It was named after Lord Bentinck, the Governor of Madras
Presidency. In this building, Supreme Court as well as High Court of Madras
Presidency functioned up to the end of 19th century. After that, Collectorate was housed in the
building. Lord William Bentinck was Governor of Madras Presidency up to 1807
and took over the reign of administration at their head quarters in Calcutta as
Governor General. When this old premises was demolished and new one was
constructed, it was named after M.Singaravelar who worked for the upliftment of
poor and downtrodden.

Recently a 6 foot bronze statue of Singaravelar was
unveiled by Mr GK Vasan at the administrative office complex of the Fisheries
Harbour Management Committee at Kasimedu … another
one stands at Venkatrangam Pillai Street, Triplicane, Chennai 600005 in front
of the Corporation School near Triplicane OT Terminus on Bharathi Salai [Pycrofts
Road]. Here is a photo of
this statue..